Malawi eyes top 100 on Doing Business

Malawi wants to be on top 100 on World Bank Doing Business report in the next five years and it will soon launch a forum to find ways of improving its business environment.

Malawi has slipped on the report from position 151 last year to 157 this year, showing that the country’s business climate continues to deteriorate.

But Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson Wiskes Nkombezi in an interview last week said government will reverse the trend as it will form forum comprising stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to look at key areas that need to fixed for the country to improve its ranking.

“The forum will discuss critical issues such as starting business, registering prosperity, paying taxes and getting [connected to] electricity, among others. As the President has been saying our target is to be on top 100 within the next five years,” said Nkombezi.

A market analyst, James Chikavu Nyirenda, in an interview last week said the target is achievable, but it requires visionary and transformational leadership.

“This can only happen if we change our attitude and stop rewarding mediocrity and start asking our leaders to account for their actions.

“Malawi must set clear targets on what we want to achieve and look at what is causing us to perform poorly on Doing Business report. Let us look at what Singapore and Rwanda have done to achieve their current status,” said Nyirenda.

Rwanda has improved from position 139 to 52, Zambia from 100 to 94, Seychelles from 104 to 74 and Ghana from 87 to 64 on Doing Business report in the past five years.

The report shows that Malawi slipped 28 steps on paying taxes, three steps on registering property, protecting investors and trading across borders. The country has improved on enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency by one step.

The 2013 report themed Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium Size Enterprises noted that Malawi introduced new taxes, improved customs administration, made dealing with construction permits more expensive and introduced a mandatory pension contribution for companies, but made trading across borders easier due to improvements in customs clearance procedures and transport links to Beira in Mozambique. 

Out of 10 topic indicators Malawi ranked 141 on starting a business , 175 on dealing with construction permits , 179 on getting electricity , 97 on  registering property , 129 on getting credit, 82 on  protecting investors , 58 on paying taxes , 168 trading across borders , 144 on enforcing contracts, and 134 on  resolving insolvency.